The Bombay High Court has vacated the stay, which the court had granted in March this year, on publishing the results of the interviews conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in March this year for the post of Deputy Drug Controller General of India (Dy DCGI).

The appointment of Dy DCGI became controversial when the union health ministry directed the UPSC to conduct interviews for the post of Dy DCGI as per the new Recruitment Rules (RR) framed by the ministry last year.  Peeved at the ministry's decision to appoint Dy DCGI as per the RR, some senior health ministry officials as a last resort knocked at the doors of the court for justice.

Even as the UPSC was conducting interviews for the Dy DCGI's post in March this year, some senior health ministry officials including Dr DK Chauhan, assistant drugs controller, Mumbai Port, challenged the ministry's decision to appoint the Dy DCGI as per the new RR which the officials contested that it was not in consonance with Rule 49(A) and 50(A) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C).

After hearing the petitioners, the court sent notices to both the union health ministry and the UPSC barring them from publishing the results of the interviews till the pendency of the case. The UPSC had conducted interviews for the post of Dy DCGI from March 23 and 28 this year.

The petitioners had wanted the court to direct the union health ministry to rectify the Recruitment Rules for the post of Dy DCGI with respect to qualification and experience as per D&C Act and Rules. They argued that the qualification and experience mentioned in the advertisement given out by the union health ministry was against the clauses prescribed for the post in the D&C Act and Rules.

The drug regulators also argued in their petition to the Bombay High Court that the posts of DCGI and Dy DCGI should be manned by the competent persons possessing necessary qualification and experience strictly as prescribed under Rule 49A and 50Aof the D&C Rules. The qualification and experience mentioned in the advertisement for the post of deputy drugs controller India was not as per these provisions.

Meanwhile, experts are of the opinion that the vacation of the stay by the Bombay High Court is a major victory for the union health ministry in its efforts to appoint the Dy DCGI and the DCGI as per the new Recruitment Rules framed by the ministry last year as it has come at a time when the case related to the appointment of DCGI as per new RR is pending in the Supreme Court.